Karla's Cottage

Karen's (Daisy) Book

Back in August, Karen gathered a group of us together for a getaway and shopping, then the group came to my house to try their hands at pour painting. This book cover is Karen's creation from the day.

My painting friends were visiting from Florida, and the paint takes 3 weeks to cure completely, since it is so heavily applied and has conditioners in it.  So, I kept the pieces here to dry, and mailed them later. 

But before I did, I put this book together for her, and another for Guncle Randy. Both were empty covers that they'd painted.

And since I LOOOOOOVE making books, I couldn't help giving her a head start on her pages.

About half are blank, and I added some vintage wallpaper, lace and embellishments to the rest.  Now, she has some backgrounds ready to add her own art, or poetry to.

My Special K, as I call her, loves Gatsby.  And identifies with Daisy.  So, I made sure there were plenty of daisies in the book for her.

She has a lovely poodle, Queen Satine, so when I saw these rhinestone poodles, I knew they had to be a part of the book too.

It is a joy to use these papers, I hope Karen loves working with them too.

Her cover turned out so sweetly, I wanted to honor it with an equally sweet interior.

Thank you for hosting our group for the flea market getaway and for coming to play with paint with me, Karen!!

And if any of you want to make a book with the two of us, I'll be teaching a class at her studio in Deland, Florida in February.  Details to come...

I will be away from my desk, enjoying Sister Time in Florida til the 22nd.  All orders from the Boutique will ship on the 24th. Thanks! 

Crown Crafting with the Crew

Besides junking, sipping wine, sitting by a bonfire, playing with piglets, and eating too much like I was a piglet myself (thanks for the great food, Tracy!!), we did some crafting on Labor Day weekend when i was with my buddies at the hunting cabin.

Royal Style!

Tami brought enough supplies to top off the entire British monarchy.

And we loved every bit and bauble she brought.

Here is a Gatsby-esque one that she gifted to Karen.

And here is a heart shaped, nature inspired, Fairy Crown that I made for Sugarwings.

She placed it on our lamp when she took it off, I kind of like it there.

This is the woodland example that Tami brought.

Angie is modelling the Ice Queen crown.

I made one similar to it.

I'm also creating a Raven crown, from a beaded flapper dress I found at a flea market. It is still in progress, I'm thinking it will require some black feathers and maybe even a feathery bird. I'll be wearing it with my raven dress to a fairyland ball that my sis, Terry, is throwing next summer. It is never too early to plan ahead, is it? This will be a big occasion, so Guncle Randy and I both worked on our headpieces.

Here is the beginning of the base of his. He ringed it with more stones, and we aged it with two colors of Rub-n-buff when we got home. 

He will also add vines and sprigs to fairy it up.

They all looked great together.

Thanks for the beautiful project, Tami!  

(I only wish we'd thought of posing some of these onto the mounted deer and turkeys around the house!)

I will be away from my desk, enjoying Sister Time in Florida til the 22nd.  All orders from the Boutique will ship on the 24th. Thanks! 

Grouting Day

My pal, Shanna, has a group of friends most Thursdays for mosaic projects. I usually bring something else to work on, since I'm not a glass artist, but this time, I did take her up on an offer to dip into the piles of cut glass she had for me to use.

I thought that a mosaic frame would look nice on this beach painting.

Shanna also helps with grouting, and there were a couple of other projects that needed finished that day.  This is Margie's table to donate to a fundraiser.

And a mirror that she did. I called it Boho Gothic.

Thanks, Shan!

Good friends, good lodgings, and goofiness

Foofy, gorgeous, girly, Karen, is also an avid hunter and outdoors woman.  She turkey hunts at Rawhide Camp Outfitters   

It is in a beautiful setting, on a bluff overlooking a bend in the Missouri River.

And it just so happens to be a hop, skip, and a mini jump, down the road from my favorite flea, at Sparks, KS.

Since flea market season and hunting season do not coincide,  she stays at the camp in August to go shopping, and is kind to invite some friends along for the trip. This is my second year there with her and I hope, not the last.

Some Birdsong friends, local and from far away, gathered to enjoy the hospitality of the home. We were all spoiled by Tracy's cooking, did some crafting, some shopping, lots of laughing, and maybe drank a bit of wine...

Angie gifted us with a vintage craft pack, and Beth made up a Flea Market Survival Kit, with wet wipes, mints, and tissues.

The home is owned by a super nice family, some of whom came by to visit.

The rooms are filled with trophies, and has a distinct hunting theme.  

There are "sheds" everywhere.  I was going to say hundreds, but I'll bet it is more like thousands.  

This guy was our crating, buddy and watched over the table we worked at.

You can tell by the surroundings that the place is probably more used to Turkey and Deer Hunters than Vintage Junk Hunters. 

I thought it was pretty clever, to use one of their empties for a soap dispenser.  And to top off the popcorn with a light bulb when there was no lid for the jar.

And yes, there were plenty of empties.... NO, these were NOT ours. Like I said, we were daintily sipping wine.

And honestly, not that much wine.... goofiness sometimes just occurs when the opportunity arises.

And then it escalates a little bit.

Well, maybe more than a little.

See?

This is the room that Guncle Randy and I shared.  I am lucky enough to have been a guest in the Crown Royal Suite two years in a row. I felt like a princess.

The views were dreamy.

I had a feeling that I wasn't in Kansas anymore.

It was the best!! Thank you Karen, and thank you to the Whetstines for hosting this fun filled getaway!!

And you thought I was done celebrating? Ha!

My husband is becoming overwhelmed by the length of my birthday celebrations.  His birthday has come and gone, while I am still living mine up.

Seriously, I thought I was done too, then my Birdsong pal, Tami, included me in her own birthday party.  She, Nora, and I are all turning 60 this year and at her recent craft day gathering, she toasted the three of us, plus others' special days too.

Not only that, she created these lovely crowns for our trio of 60 year olds.  (Mine is too far back on my head to show in this, but you can see it in the close up, above.  Gorgeousness, huh????)

Tami supplied projects for the day too.  There was an assortment of lids to turn into note holders, and clip boards to foof up. 

As it always is, her craft day was filled with laughter and creativity.  Thanks, Tami!!

When your friends know you well

Back in May, I threw myself a birthday dinner party and invited some of my long time, good friends.   We'd met through our love of art, and even though our art endeavors have gone different directions over the last 20 years or so, we still have a love of each other.

They collaborated on a charm bracelet for my 60th, with pieces charmingly filled with memories of our times together and of my favorite things.

There is sea glass (one of my obsessions), a heart signifying family, diacrylic glass from a group project we did, birthstones for my kids, and see the bakery stand? I love to serve cupcakes on a tiered stand, not just on a plate.

A vine for my garden, a bird for Birdsong, a mermaid for my love of the ocean, and even charms for my doggies.

My friends found  yorkie, doodle, and golden retriever charms for the bracelet.  And a Disney castle!!

It was a thoughtful gift from friends who know me well and who I am lucky to have.

Thank you, guys!!

I'll leave you with a few photos of the table before the group arrived.

 

 

 

Did I mention that I feel blessed?

While in Florida, I didn't expect to see my pal, Karen Hillman.

She was planning a trip to Kansas the next week and we had plans then.

But Guncle Randy took me out to a shopping center one morning while I was in Jax, and as I strolled into a pretty shop- there she was!  What a surprise.  She'd driven almost TWO HOURS, brought me a decadent cake, and a gift card, leaving me speechless when I saw her waiting for me.

She couldn't stay for the day, she had to turn around, drive that long trek right back and get to work for the afternoon (two photo shoots).  During her quick trip, she helped me choose a pile of things to try on and we had an hour together while Randy waited patiently, and was asked to comment here and there on our Pretty Woman style spree.  

He was much more patient than you'd expect.  What a nice guy to hang out while we tried on mountains of clothes.

It seems like I rarely have time to shop, and when I do, it is for the grand fairies.  Or I'm at TJ Maxx, finding a quick tee shirt or two.  Shopping with buddies was a nice change, and both convinced me to buy things I probably wouldn't have on my own.

When a person with as much style as Karen does, tells you that you should wear more red, you buy something red. She also thought this dress wasn't too young for me... I'm going to wear it on my Big Birthday Boat Trip.

This was waiting in front of the dressing room door, how cute.  

The cake was amazing too.  And how sweet of her to take the time to do this for me.   I feel so blessed.

 

 

A flock of seashell fairies

My visit to St. Augustine was better than I even hoped it would be.

The weather was pretty dang bad the first couple of days.

And chilly after about 48 hours of thunderstorms.

So we didn't get to do the things we planned.

Hmm, not sounding great, huh? 

Oh, but it was!!  I met up with friends from childhood and beyond, they are lifetime friends that I rarely get to see.  We made the most of the weather, wrapped ourselves in warm quilts, drank some wine, and enjoyed the view of the storms across the ocean. 

We also enjoyed our never ending conversations that started when we met at the airport and flowed non-stop til I rolled my bag out to the car to leave.

It wasn't what we were doing, it was who we were doing it with that counted.

Although, we did manage to get a lot of fun activities going despite the weather.

When the sun finally came back out, we had LONG walks on the beach and hunted seaglass.

I'll leave you with a few photos of the 180 Years of Celebration trip.  (all three of us were having our 60th birthdays, one in February, two in May)

 

And more Galentines!

 

Our Galentine's party was such fun, I threw a second one!  Some friends came by to hang out and create with me.  At Snowbird's Song, I didn't have time to work on my bird from Lesa's class, and pulled out the kit to get started with a Valentine's point of view.

I like her on the dining table as centerpieces with the gifts Randy sent to me.  But I think I will add some feathers to her arms and turn them into wings. That is not Lesa's style to do that, but that is the fun of creating rom a kit, right? You get the knowledge and info from the artist, the supplies to put the piece together, and also the opportunity to make it your own with a spin or two.

For my first workshop in February, I'd bought fresh roses for the table. Then, though I planned to replace them, I'd had some issues (lots of issues, really) with back pain and never made it to the store to buy more.  So, I let these dry as is and I think I'll just enjoy them this way for a while.

Valentine's Day has been almost like Christmas for me! The table runner is a cut velvet scarf from my SIL, the candy box and card are from Randy. 

Here are more of the dried roses, next to a candle gifted to me by my pal, Nora.

And Beth created this rug, knitted from fabric!

It is a lovely touch for my pink and glitter walled bathroom. I've been thinking about adding some pink roses to the hand painted floor too. Right now the floor is neutral flowers, so the walls can be changed at any whim, but I sure am wanting some pink roses..... For now, those back problems I mentioned are stopping me.  Painting a floor isn't easy even when your back is feeling wonderful.

This lil cupid was captured in this glass heart by Tami.

She also treated me to a vintage honey pot that I am storing our jar of home grown honey in upside down.

Aren't the bees on it super cute? 

Thanks for the thoughtful gifts, everyone!!

And thank you to Lesa for the great kit to build!

Girlfriends' Craft Day- the holiday edition, glitz and sparkle time!

Tami and I got to be friends through Birdsong, and a group of local-ish Peeps who met through our crafty weekends got to be close.  Tami has coordinated many get togethers for us to gather together and have some girlfriend time.

She sets up space in her basement studio and offers up a generous and (eye popping) array of supplies as well as some ideas for projects.

This is a lid to a chewing gum tin I've spiffed up with one of the little angels she had out for us to use.

I used another one in this little mint box. 

I'd brought supplies of my own to use too, and got quite a few ornies made.  This one is sold, the others were for gifts.  The glass dome on this is from an old clock, I had a few, but not as many as I'd like!  It would be nice to find a big pile of those to play with. 

One I used to make a gift for Guncle Kevin, the other I put together as a kit for Guncle Randy to make one for himself.  

Since I had some specific gifts to get done, I didn't participate in a mini class Tami offered for the morning.

But I sure enjoyed watching the others make theirs.  

Cute, huh?

Beth numbered hers in sections to use as a journal/calendar.

The day goes by way too fast, and I usually have to rush back to Lawrence for family something or others, and am jealous when some of the rest of the group turns it into a sleepover! 

Some weekend, I'll just have to make that work somehow.  Because there is never enough time to treasure with good friends!